It appears the Quality Control workers had gone on strike at Foxconn. The news item only says that Apple iPhone 5 production was affected.

They went on strike to complain of serious overloads.

Is it possible that Foxconn also produces Kindle Paperwhites? If so, that could explain a quality control break down.

Here is a quote from that article:

"Li Qiang, executive director for China Labor Watch, claims that the strike mostly involves workers on the the OQC (onsite quality control) line. It is claimed that this strike, which came after factory management and Apple put pressure on the workers to make sure that handsets left the factory defect-free, has “paralyzed the production lines”."

If I had received a defective PW, I would have returned it for a refund and then re-buy it in December. I'm sure this entire episode will be resolved by then.

This review is from: Kindle Paperwhite, 6" High Resolution Display with Built-in Light, Wi-Fi - Includes Special Offers (Electronics)

The screen on my first Kindle Paperwhite was terrible. It had a dark blue green hue with large areas of shadows and blotches and blobs of green and pink. The text did not render consistently as some looked bold and some letters looked washed out. I could not read on it because it was so bad. I got a replacement sent to me and at first it was much better. But after a few days the screen has become shadowy and blotchy much like the first one did. It is slightly better, but not by much. Judging from all the negative posts I've seen on some forums, there are large numbers of the Kindle Paperwhite being returned due to screen defects. I think Amazon's quality control on the Kindle Paperwhite is really bad.

I will say that I've owned seven Kindles prior to the Kindle Paperwhite and this is the first time I've seen problems like this. Kindle Customer Service has been really nice, but too many units seem to be bad. I cannot recommend this product.

jswinden, I thought you were happy with your replacement?

A lot of the earlier one star reviews were mad about lack of headphone jack.

I think reviews are a tricky thing....are basing your review on what you think it should have but doesn't (headphone jack), are you reviewing based on a defective unit?

Not only that, the squeaky wheel gets the oil right? People are more likely to write a bad review when upset, as opposed to a good review when content.

I love my Kindle PW, easily the best Kindle yet IMHO and yet I didn't write a review....so I guess that makes me part of the problem.

A lot of the earlier one star reviews were mad about lack of headphone jack.

True, and I downvoted those when I saw them. (Don't have that much sympathy for people who don't read the specs, and a product review isn't the place to air your grievances about the company's design choices.)

Now I'm very worried. Since its not available in Canada, I bought one and had it shipped to a friend of my parents place in Buffalo. Don't have it yet, but if it has problems I will have to ship it back to Amazon from Canada and then have them ship back to Buffalo. What a pain. Fingers crossed that mine will be one of the good ones!

A lot of the earlier one star reviews were mad about lack of headphone jack.

I think reviews are a tricky thing....are basing your review on what you think it should have but doesn't (headphone jack), are you reviewing based on a defective unit?

Not only that, the squeaky wheel gets the oil right? People are more likely to write a bad review when upset, as opposed to a good review when content.

I love my Kindle PW, easily the best Kindle yet IMHO and yet I didn't write a review....so I guess that makes me part of the problem.

I think the bad reviews due to not knowing the specs are more than compensated for by the reviews from folks who will take whatever they are given and be happy with it. They believe the hype. Though this doesn't apply to most of the good reviews, there are enough of them to counter the bad reviews submitted because people do not read the specs.

EDIT: I apologize if the previous statement was offensive to some, it was meant as an analogy not as an attack on beliefs. And there was nothing in it about all good reviews coming from "mindless people," only some of them fit that category, so don't read more into that than is there.

I think the bad reviews due to not knowing the specs are more than compensated for by the fanboy and fangirl reviews from mindless folks who will take whatever their beloved company gives them and be happy with it. They believe the hype. How do you think major religions and cults survive and thrive? Most of the followers blindly follow and do what they're told and believe what they're told.

Wow - really? I guess I'm a mindless fanboy because I love my PW and believe it is the best Kindle yet. Sorry your experience has been different.

EDIT - Oh, wait - I just realized. I'm a member of a major religion too. That explains it.

I think the bad reviews due to not knowing the specs are more than compensated for by the fanboy and fangirl reviews from mindless folks who will take whatever their beloved company gives them and be happy with it. They believe the hype. How do you think major religions and cults survive and thrive? Most of the followers blindly follow and do what they're told and believe what they're told.

I think the bad reviews due to not knowing the specs are more than compensated for by the fanboy and fangirl reviews from mindless folks who will take whatever their beloved company gives them and be happy with it. They believe the hype. How do you think major religions and cults survive and thrive? Most of the followers blindly follow and do what they're told and believe what they're told.

You know I feel your pain as far as defective Paperwhites go and sure there are Amazon "fanboys" and "fangirls" but I think you may have gone too far with your comments. Yes, they are your opinions and you have a right to express them but in my opinion, it's just an ebook reader and not worth offending people over.

I think the bad reviews due to not knowing the specs are more than compensated for by the fanboy and fangirl reviews from mindless folks who will take whatever their beloved company gives them and be happy with it. They believe the hype. How do you think major religions and cults survive and thrive? Most of the followers blindly follow and do what they're told and believe what they're told.

This is quite insulting. I'm very happy with my PW. I realize you're not, but comparing those who are happy with their PWs to people of religion or cultists is idiotic. You've made numerous posts all over the internet as to how disappointed you are with the device - perhaps you've become obsessed? If so, this might be a good time for you to join a religion or even a cult and learn how to deal with disappointment.

While I don't think the hater vs. fanboy argument is ever very productive, it's definitely frustrating having people assume I'm overreacting, imagining things, or making things up regarding my blue/green/pink clouds on two PW units. Lack of willingness to exercise critical thinking goes both ways. I've been on both sides of this kind of thing, but usually I am the person sitting back and thinking "Huh, my unit is fine, they must be really picky to care about their alleged (screen tinge, light bleed, dead pixel, ghosting, wharever)."

The difference is I never posted and told those people their concerns were invalid, or tried to devalue the weight of negative reviews. Everyone knows how crowd-sourcing works in product reviews--in general, both extremes (haters/fanboys) cancel each other out; that doesn't mean there isn't a difference between a 3.5 star product and a 5 star product. That's the whole point.

I apologize if the previous statement was offensive to some, it was meant as an analogy not as an attack on beliefs. And there was nothing in it about all good reviews coming from "mindless people," only some of them fit that category, so don't read more into that than is there. I reworded that comment to read:

I think the bad reviews due to not knowing the specs are more than compensated for by the reviews from folks who will take whatever they are given and be happy with it. They believe the hype. Though this doesn't apply to most of the good reviews, there are enough of them to counter the bad reviews submitted because people do not read the specs.

It's pretty telling that I wrote what I thought was a fairly calm and detailed explanation of the problem in my review, including the part where I said I would update the review if I ever get a non-defective unit, and within 60 seconds it was marked by someone as "Not helpful". Heh.